Apple Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs helped broker a film director's employment contract with Pixar Inc. that included a large stock options grant that had a particularly beneficial date, according to reports Friday.

The Wall Street Journal said the grant was part of a 2001 contract between Pixar and John Lasseter, and carried the lowest share price of the previous year on a date more than three months before the signing of the contract.

Jobs, who was at the time chairman and CEO of Pixar, signed on behalf of the company.

The Journal said it's not clear whether Jobs had a role in choosing the prior grant date, one of several awarded by the Emeryville-based company at yearly lows.

Pixar, which was bought last year by Walt Disney Co. is conducting an internal investigation into its options grant practices, and is being examined by federal prosecutors in San Francisco. Lasseter is Disney's chief creative officer of its animation studios.

Lasseter's Pixar contract that is being questioned included a $5 million signing bonus, a $2.5 million annual salary and one million stock options. Prosecutors and the SEC are already looking into Jobs's role in stock-options